The overall goal of this work is to develop a rapid DNA extraction protocol that can be applied to human body fluids, sputa and stool samples. The basis of the isolation procedure is to solubilize the clinical specimen with the strong detergent sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS). The solubilization releases high-molecular weight DNA which can be captured on membrane filters. The immobilized DNA is washed free of SDS and the DNA eluted into a polymerase chain reaction buffer which can immediately be amplified. After optimizing conditions for solubilization, filtration and elution, DNA can be rapidly extracted from whole blood that is submitted to Specialty Laboratories, Inc. for HIV-1 DNA detection by the polymerase chain reaction.